Three-plus forward lines.

At least five quality defensemen.

The Knoch High School hockey team also has a full complement of a captain with four alternate captains.

The Knights are out to get you with depth.

"The strength of our team is the balance that we have," Knoch coach Joe Honzo said. "We don't really have what you'd call one area where we feel much stronger than another. We feel pretty much balanced across the board."

Honzo believes Knoch has quality players on the ice at any point in a game. The Knights are deep -- and have depth without much dropoff from one line or one defenseman pairing to the next.

That, as much as anything, has led to the Knights' 4-0 record as they headed into a game last night against undefeated Bishop McCort.

"The team last year had a decent season (12-8-1), not a great season, but we set the bar pretty high for these kids," said Honzo, in the first season of his second tenure as coach. "I've known the Knoch program since it's been in existence, and this is certainly the most talent they've had there. We're pretty excited about the season."

The Knights exhibited some of that depth Monday, when eight players scored in a 9-1 win against South Park.

Three of the team's top five defensemen play high-level travel hockey, and all three are alternate captains for the Knights. Junior Shayne Hennessy plays for the under-16 AAA Junior Penguins, and junior Matt Eshelman and sophomore Ty Honzo play for the Junior Select Penguins.

Sophomore Alex Fuerst and senior Nick Transue round out the strong unit.

"Those five guys have been doing a heck of a job for us," said Joe Honzo, who is Ty's father.

Offensively, Knoch is led by seniors Neal Donnelly and Evan Gorse, who typically skate together on the team's top line with sophomore Tyler Andrews.

Donnelly is the captain, and Gorse an alternate. Both were invited to the PIHL Class A All-Star Game last season, when they were the Knights' two leading scorers.

In 21 games, Gorse had 17 goals and 31 assists and Donnelly had 18 goals and 20 assists. This season, through three games, they had combined for five goals and six assists.

"Those two kids are the game-breakers for us," said Honzo, who has been coaching high school and amateur hockey in the area for more than two decades. "Those are kids who can turn games around for us at any time. They'll probably end up in the top five scorers in the league."

Knoch's second line consists of senior Eric Egler at center with wingers Nate Travis and Nate Medic, both juniors.

The third line usually has sophomore Nick Brubach and, as Honzo put it, "a bunch of other kids who can fill in -- and fill in well -- on that line." That list includes sophomore Zach Naples, junior Bobby Winters and senior Brandon McCarthy.

Senior Ryan Naples is the No. 1 goalie, and he has allowed only five goals in four games this season, with a save percentage of better than .930.

"The way this team has built momentum is we had a nice summer program and we also played a very competitive exhibition schedule in which we played all the big boys -- Peters, Upper St. Clair, Mars, we played everybody," Honzo said.

"We didn't duck anybody so that we knew coming into the season that if the kids played strong, they could compete, and so that they'd be grounded in their abilities in what they could and couldn't do."

The Knights are hoping that one thing they can do is win the Section 1 title and advance deep into the Penguins Cup playoffs in a more competitive PIHL Class A this season.

Mike White's "High School Sports Edition" videos are featured exclusively on PG+, a members-only web site from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.